One common cause of nasal airway obstruction is collapse of the internal nasal valve. Nasal valve collapse is a condition where the sidewalls of your nostrils collapse as you breathe in. It can occur by itself, or along with other reasons that cause nasal congestion. For example, it may occur years after rhinoplasty due to weakening of the cartilages that supports the side of the nostrils and other times it happens without any surgery or trauma.
Support of the nasal valve is currently achieved by several different treatment methods. However, all of these methods have drawbacks such as being expensive, unsightly, uncomfortable to wear and remove the nasal support and may cause skin irritation. Other procedures result in sequelae from the incisions and tissue harvesting has been reported. These procedures may also leave undesirable scars on the nose and ears and cannot be performed within an office setting.
Thus, there is a need to provide a device, system and method for correction of collapse of a nasal valve that is inexpensive, can be performed within an office setting and does not require incision within the face of the patient.